CHAPTER 1

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia as the word of the LORD by Jeremiah had come to fulfillment, the LORD roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he sent forth a proclamation through all his kingdom, and in a writ as well, saying, ²“Thus said Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD, God of Israel, given me, and He has ordered me to build Him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. ³And whoever among you of all His people, may his God be with him, let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the LORD, God of Israel—He is the God Who is in Jerusalem. ⁴And whoever remains in all the places where they sojourn, let the people of his place support him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts together with the freewill offerings for the house of the God who is in Jerusalem.” ⁵And the patriarchal chiefs of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, all whose spirit God had roused to go up to build the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. ⁶And all those around them strengthened their hands with silver vessels and with gold and with goods and with beasts and with delicacies besides all the freewill offerings. ⁷And King Cyrus had taken out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out from Jerusalem and put in the house of his god. ⁸And Cyrus king of Persia took them out through Mithreath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. ⁹And this is their count: thirty golden bowls, a thousand silver bowls, twenty-nine knives, ¹⁰thirty golden chalices, four hundred ten different silver chalices, and a thousand other vessels. ¹¹All the vessels of gold and of silver, five thousand four hundred. All did Sheshbazzar bring up when the exiles went up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.